JPH07246873A - Headlight for vehicle - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To elongate the recognition distance in the high speed travelling by setting a lighting fitting part upward by a special angle, varying the lighting angle according to the travelling speed, and concentrating the light quantity at the front part in the high speed travelling. CONSTITUTION:As for each light distribution characteristics of a wide lamp body 4 and a spot lamp body 5, the main axis of lighting is set downward by 0.5-1 deg.. When an oncoming vehicle detecting sensor 7b does not detect an oncoming vehicle, a driving circuit 7d generates an output to drive an optical axis driving actuator 7e, and a lighting fitting part 6 is set upward, and the wide lamp body 4 and the spot lamp body 5 are set upward by 0.5-1 deg.. An electric power selecting circuit 7c puts ON only the wide lamp body 4, when the car speed detected by a car speed sensor 7a is slower than the first specific speed, while if the car speed is over the second specific speed, only the spot lamp body 5 is put ON. When the car speed is at the intermediate value, each light quantity of both the lamp bodies is varied according to the car speed, keeping the sum of the light quantity supplied from both the lamp bodies, constant.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a vehicular lamp, and more particularly to improving the performance of a low beam light distribution characteristic of a headlight.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art FIG. 6 shows an example of the configuration of a conventional headlight 90 of this type. The headlight 90 is provided with a traveling beam lamp 91 and a passing beam lamp 92.
One of the traveling beam lamps 91 has a traveling light distribution characteristic that illuminates a distant place, and the other passing beam lamp 92 has a passing light distribution characteristic that radiates light mainly below the horizontal direction.

In the suburbs such as in the relatively high speed and a small number of oncoming vehicles, the traveling beam lamp 91 is turned on for traveling, and in the urban area such as a relatively low speed and a large number of oncoming vehicles, it is used for the passing beam. It is supposed that the lamp 92 is turned on to travel. The passing beam lamp 92
There is also an H4 bulb that employs an electric bulb having two switchable filaments to switch between the traveling light distribution characteristic and the passing light distribution characteristic.

[0004]

However, due to the widespread use of automobiles and the maintenance of roads, the number of oncoming vehicles has become extremely rare even in the suburbs that are traveling at a relatively high speed, and traveling with light distribution characteristics for passing each other. Therefore, there is almost no chance of traveling with the above-mentioned traveling light distribution characteristics, that is, the traveling beam lamp 91 is lit up, and the passing beam lamp 92 is almost all the time when the vehicle is traveling. It is supposed to be lit.

At this time, the passing beam lamp 9 is used.
As described above, the light distribution characteristic of 2 is originally determined based on the condition that the vehicle is traveling at a relatively low speed such as an urban area. Therefore, the distance that can be visually recognized when traveling at a relatively high speed in the suburbs. However, the conventional headlamp 90 does not match the traffic situation in the near future, and the problem is to be solved.

[0006]

As a concrete means for solving the above-mentioned conventional problems, the present invention provides a vehicle headlamp comprising a traveling beam lamp and a passing beam lamp, The passing beam lamp includes a lamp unit configured by integrating a wide lamp body having a light source and a wide light distribution characteristic and a spot lamp body having a narrow light distribution characteristic, and a vehicle speed sensor. And a control unit having an oncoming vehicle detection sensor and an optical axis drive actuator,
According to the output of the vehicle speed sensor, the control unit gradually changes the light source such that the wide lamp body is mainly used on the low speed side and the spot lamp body is mainly operated on the high speed side. The problem is solved by providing a vehicle headlamp characterized in that when the oncoming vehicle is not detected by the vehicle detection sensor, the lamp section is directed upward by 0.5 to 1 ° by the optical axis drive actuator. It is a thing.

[0007]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Next, the present invention will be described in detail based on an embodiment shown in the drawings. Reference numeral 1 in FIGS. 1 and 2 is a vehicle headlamp according to the present invention. The vehicle headlamp 1 includes a traveling beam lamp 2 and a passing beam lamp 3. However, according to the present invention, the passing beam lamp 3 is composed of a wide lamp body 4 and a spot lamp body 5 to form a lamp section 6, and the passing beam lamp is further provided. 3 includes a control unit 7.

The structure of the present invention will be described in more detail below. First, the wide lamp body 4 of the low beam lamp 3 has a wide light source 4a such as a halogen bulb.
It has a wide light distribution characteristic in which light from the wide light source 4a is diffused in a relatively wide range in the horizontal direction by the wide reflecting mirror 4b and the wide lens 4c.

In actual implementation, the wide light distribution characteristics described above are equal to or have the same shape and irradiation angle as the light distribution characteristics of the conventional low beam lighting device, or have a wider horizontal irradiation angle. It is said that when the lights are turned on, the oncoming vehicle will not be dazzled.

The other spot lamp body 5 is also provided with a spot light source 5a, a spot reflecting mirror 5b, and a spot lens 5c to obtain a spot light distribution characteristic for relatively narrow diffusion in the horizontal direction. However, at this time, basically, the shape of the spot light distribution characteristic does not cause the oncoming vehicle to be dazzled like the wide light distribution characteristic described above. At this time, the wide light source 4a and the spot light source 5a have the same power consumption.

The wide lamp body 4 and the spot lamp body 5 formed in this way are integrated to form a lamp unit 6. This integration is performed by separately forming the wide lamp body 4 and the spot lamp body. 5 may be fastened to each other, or the wide reflecting mirror 4b and the spot reflecting mirror 5b may be integrally formed from a resin or the like and integrally formed from the beginning.

The control unit 7 has a vehicle speed sensor 7a for detecting the traveling speed of the vehicle, and an oncoming vehicle detection sensor 7b for detecting the presence or absence of an oncoming vehicle at night, for example, by a light receiving element.
Corresponding to the output of the vehicle speed sensor 7a, as shown in FIG. 3, only the wide lamp 4 is turned on at the low speed side and the spot lamp 5 is turned off at the low speed side, and the light amount 4A becomes 100%, and at the high speed side, it is wide. The lamp body 4 is turned off, the spot lamp body 5 is lit at the rated value, the light amount 5A becomes 100%, and the lighting is controlled to smoothly transition from the wide lamp body 4 to the spot lamp body 5 in the intermediate speed range. The power switching circuit 7c is connected.

In response to the output of the oncoming vehicle detection sensor 7b, the oncoming vehicle detection sensor 7b is driven by the drive circuit 7d and an optical axis drive actuator 7e driven by the drive circuit 7d, for example, by a solenoid. Is not detected, the optical axis of the lamp unit 6 is set to 0.5.
Upward by 1 °.

Next, the operation and effect of the vehicle headlamp 1 of the present invention having the above structure will be described. First, the provision of the wide lamp body 4 and the spot lamp body 5 as the lamp portion 6 will be described. As described above, the wide lamp body 4 has almost the same light distribution characteristic as the conventional passing beam lamp. The spot lamp body 5 has a narrowed irradiation angle.

Therefore, the wide light source 4a of the wide lamp body 4 is used.
And the spot light source 5a of the spot lamp body 5 have the same power consumption, and assuming that the irradiation angle of the spot lamp body 5 is half that of the wide lamp body 4, these wide lamp body 4 and spot Regarding the illuminance at the same reach distance with the lamp body 5, the spot lamp body 5 is about twice as bright as the wide lamp body 4.

This naturally makes the spot lamp body 5 more excellent in visibility farther from the vehicle. In the present invention, the wide lamp body 4 smoothly applies the spot lamp body 5 according to the speed of the vehicle. Since the electric power used is switched, the visibility in the distance improves as the speed of the vehicle increases, and the necessary forward visibility can be secured even when traveling at relatively high speeds, for example, in the suburbs. .

Here, the light distribution characteristics of the wide lamp body 4 and the spot lamp body 5 will be described again. As described above, the light distribution characteristics of both the lamp bodies 4 and 5 are basically the passing beam of the conventional example. Since it follows the lighting fixture, its main axis of irradiation is set downward by about 0.5 to 1 °, and therefore,
No matter how narrow the irradiation angle of the spot lamp body 5 is to be bright, the reaching distance will be limited by the above-mentioned downward angle.

Correspondingly, in the present invention, the oncoming vehicle detection sensor 7b, the drive circuit 7d, the optical axis drive actuator 7e.
The oncoming vehicle detection sensor 7b is, for example, a light receiving element, and detects the presence or absence of an oncoming vehicle by detecting the amount of light of the headlight of the oncoming vehicle. Then, the drive circuit 7d produces an output to the oncoming vehicle detection sensor 7b in a state where the oncoming vehicle is not detected, and drives the optical axis drive actuator 7e such as a solenoid to drive the lamp unit 6, that is, the wide lamp body 4. Both the spot lamp body 5 and the spot lamp body 5 are directed upward by 0.5 to 1 °.

By doing so, the lamp unit 6 of the present invention
In the state where there is no oncoming vehicle, the main axis of the irradiation is almost horizontal and the irradiation is distant. Moreover, at this time, since the wide lamp body 4 and the spot lamp body 5 are both directed upward, the brightness of each of the lamp bodies 4 and 5 is controlled regardless of whether the traveling speed of the vehicle is low or high. It is possible to obtain a commensurate reaching distance.

4 and 5 specifically show an example of the structure of the power switching circuit 7c when the wide lamp body 4 and the spot lamp body 5 are smoothly switched according to the traveling speed of the vehicle. As shown in FIG. 4, the power switching circuit 7c has a switching element Tw for each of a wide terminal W whose power source is connected to the wide lamp body 4 and a spot terminal S which is connected to the spot lamp body 5. Ts is connected.

If it is determined that it is desirable to drive only the wide lamp body 4 when the vehicle speed is 40 km / h or less and only the spot lamp body 5 is 80 km / h or more when driving is desired. Based on the signal from the vehicle speed sensor 7a, the switching elements Tw and Ts are turned on only on the switching element Tw side at 40 km / h or less, and only on the switching element Ts side at 80 km / h or more (see FIG. 3). To be done.

Then, at a speed of 40 Km / h or more and 80 Km / h or less, for example, 60 Km / h, the wide lamp body 4 and the spot lamp body 5
The switching elements Tw and Ts are intermittently turned on so that both of them become 50%, but at this time, the power supplied to the wide lamp body 4 is 50%, and similarly, the power supplied to the spot lamp body 5 is 50%. Even if it is simply divided into 50%, the amount of light tends to decrease at a rate higher than the reduction in power consumption as a characteristic of an incandescent light bulb that is generally used as a light source for this type of lamp, and the overall brightness It will be in short supply.

Therefore, according to the present invention, at the time of switching transition in which both the wide light source 4a and the spot light source 5a are turned on, the sum of the light amounts of the both light sources 4a and 5a is the wide light source 4
a (the same applies to the spot light source 5a) is designed to have the same amount of light as when it is turned on at the rated voltage. This is because the on / off ratio T of the switch elements Tw and Ts is 50 as shown in FIG. It is performed by appropriately adjusting% + α.

In the actual implementation, the reduction ratio of the light amount to the reduction amount of the power consumption varies depending on the conditions such as the difference in the ratings of the wide light source 4a or the spot light source 5a. The operating characteristics of the switch elements Tw and Ts are determined in consideration of the conditions.

With the above construction, when the wide lamp body 4 and the spot lamp body 5 are switched, smooth switching can be performed without causing a problem such as a decrease in the amount of light in the middle. . The operations and effects other than those described above are the same as those of the previous embodiment, and therefore detailed description thereof is omitted here.

[0026]

As described above, according to the present invention, first of all, a wide lamp body having light sources each having a wide light distribution characteristic and a spot lamp body having a narrow light distribution characteristic are provided. The illuminating part is configured to be integrated, and the gradual switching is performed with respect to the light source such that the wide lamp is mainly used on the low speed side and the spot lamp is mainly used on the high speed side according to the output of the vehicle speed sensor. By changing the shape of the passing beam distribution characteristic according to the traveling speed, the irradiation angle is changed according to the traveling speed, and the light is radiated brightly in the distance as the light quantity is concentrated more forward in the high speed. The present invention has an extremely excellent effect of being able to provide a headlight that suits the actual road conditions of the recent roads that are always driven by a beam.

Secondly, when the oncoming vehicle is not detected by the oncoming vehicle detection sensor, the optical axis drive actuator causes the lamp portion to be directed upward by 0.5 to 1 °. It is assumed that the irradiation axis automatically goes to the horizontal direction, and it is possible to irradiate farther away while maintaining the shape of the above-mentioned passing beam distribution characteristic, to reinforce the above-mentioned action and effect, and further It has an excellent effect of improving the performance.

Further, the gradual changeover between the wide lamp body and the spot lamp body is carried out so that the sum of the light amounts of the two is always constant. Even when the two lamp bodies, the spot lamp body and the lamp body, are provided, there is an effect that smooth switching is possible without causing a shortage of light amount during the switching.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an embodiment of a vehicle headlamp according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic circuit diagram of the same embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a graph showing the operation of the same embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a circuit diagram showing a main part of another embodiment of the vehicle headlight according to the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a graph showing the operation of another embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view showing a conventional example.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 …… Vehicle headlamp 2 …… Traveling beam lamp 3 …… Passing beam lamp 4 …… Wide lamp body 4a …… Wide light source 4b …… Wide reflector 4c …… Wide lens 5 …… Spot lamp 5a ...... Spot light source 5b ...... Spot reflector 5c ...... Spot lens 6 ...... Lamp section 7 ...... Control section 7a ...... Vehicle speed sensor 7b ...... Oncoming vehicle detection sensor 7c ...... Power switching circuit 7d ... Drive circuit 7e ... Optical axis drive actuator Tw, Ts ... Switch element

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A vehicle headlamp comprising a traveling beam lamp and a low beam lamp, wherein the low beam lamp has a light source and has a wide light distribution characteristic. And a spot lamp body having a narrow light distribution characteristic are integrally formed, and a controller having a vehicle speed sensor, an oncoming vehicle detection sensor, and an optical axis drive actuator. In accordance with the output of the vehicle speed sensor, the wide light body on the low speed side and the spot light body on the high speed side are gradually switched with respect to the light source so that the light source is mainly changed, and the oncoming vehicle detection sensor A vehicular headlamp, characterized in that when the oncoming vehicle is not detected, the optical axis drive actuator causes the lamp part to be directed upward by 0.5 to 1 °. 2. The gradual changeover between the wide lamp body and the spot lamp body by the control unit is performed so that the sum of the light amounts of both light sources is always constant. The vehicle headlamp according to Item 1.